Review of Wasteland

I see a creature, fierce and unrestrained. A hazardous raging fire, and yet I reach out towards the flame. The darkness from her depths, guiding me into her soul. Drawing me into her wasteland… into her world.

This is the opening text of Elegant Angel and Graham Travis’s new movie Wasteland. From this short poem, you can derive that we are in for one heck of an emotional and sexual ride and I must say that this movie does not disappoint. I had to watch this a couple times before I could really figure out how I could review it. From the beginning I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it in my normal fashion because this movie is unlike any other pornographic movie in recent history, at least in my opinion. So with that I am going to try a new format for this review.

Story:

Wasteland is the story of Anna and Jacky (Lily Carter and Lily LaBeau respectively). They grew up and were friends in Arizona but Jacky moved out to LA after graduation and they have not talked much since. From the opening scene in the movie, with Lily Carter narrating, we get a sense of the two characters. Jacky was the popular and outgoing girl while Anna was more or less a wallflower. You also get the feeling that Anna has some deep feelings for Jacky and that Jacky as either unaware or didn’t care but Anna still had those feelings. The other important thing is that Anna is also emotionally damaged because her parents both died in a house fire when she was really young and the only person she has left is her grandmother who is taking a turn for the worse back in Arizona.

After Anna and Jacky meet up in LA, they quickly reconnect. Anna is only in town for the day though so they have to have all their fun in one night. Throughout the night though, Anna figures out that Jacky seems to only see her as a little plaything that she can use and will always come back because she desperately wants Jacky to feel the same thing for her that she does about Jacky. This is made clear to the audience early on when, after leaving a nightclub where she already had sex with a random guy (Manuel Ferrera), Jacky coaxes Anna to help her jerk off/suck off this other guy (Mick Blue, though not completely sure because we never see his face) in an alley while Jacky rubs her off at the same time.

After this incident, the two ladies continue down the street while Jacky tries to apologize for getting her into that. This leads back to them going back to Jacky’s apartment where Anna gets what she has been hoping for and that is to make love to Jacky. After this everything seems to be alright between the two of them as they revert back to typically teenage girl type antics, climaxing with a frank talk where Anna tells Jacky that she can always count on her. This in itself leads into another love making session between the old friends. The difference being this one is much more gentle and loving.

So again, everything seems to be going smoothly again until Jacky has sex with another guy (Xander Corvus) while Anna watches. Now why Anna keeps watching is an interesting discussion. She couldn’t help watching when she started jerking off/sucking off the guy earlier because he was giving them a ride but the other two times she went looking and found Jacky having sex and she watches and then averts her eyes before she starts to watch again. It’s like she craves the pain that watching her do that causes her. Anna finally breaks down when they talk next and starts talking about her ailing Grandma and her fear of being alone in the world. It’s a very touching scene and one that may do for Lily Carter what Portrait of a Call Girl did for Jessie Andrews and that is nabbing the AVN Award for Best Actress.

After another quick round of love making, the two ladies get ready again, but this time they are going to a sex/BDSM club. Jacky tells her to wait a few minutes and then to come and find her. Anna waits and when she walks through the club, she is approached by another woman (Liza Del Sierra), who guides her through the club and stops to have her watch a BJ in a couple rooms while she fingers her and muffles her moans with her hand. This eventually leads to them having their own quick sex scene before she sends her along her way to find Jacky in a room full of guys. Jacky starts to have sex with some of them and Anna joins in as a way to embrace Jacky’s lifestyle and to ingratiate herself with her. This scene includes Lily Carter’s first DP as well.

What happens next is heartbreaking and because I don’t want to spoil it, I won’t reveal what happens at the end.

Sex:

As I mentioned in the story breakdown, there are several sex scenes, including three scenes with the two leading ladies together. The scenes in the actual movie though are all relatively short, with the exception of the final scene, which is still edited but much longer than the other scenes. The good news though is that the full sex scenes can be found on the second disc as part of the bonus features. The best part about the sex scenes though is how naturally they fit into the story, something that isn’t done all too well in many features. There is always that one scene that feels like it is tacked on just so they can have another sex scene. The balance is also good as we get pretty much everything you would want. There are the multiple girl/girl scenes which switch between loving and sweet or raw and energetic and the boy/girl scenes are varied as well from an oral only to the group scene at the end. With the scenes weaved so effortlessly with the story, Graham has also achieved something that isn’t common when it comes to the type of sex seen in this movie and that is that this movie will not only appeal to men, but to couples and women as well.

Extras:

As you would expect with a two-disc set, the second disc is loaded with extras. As I mentioned before, there is the full version of all the sex scenes, as well as some deleted scenes. There are also two sets of interviews. One is a podcast interview with the two Lily’s and the other with director/writer Graham Travis. There is also a great BTS segment and two additional scenes featuring Lily Carter and Lily LaBeau from Elegant’s Club 59 label.

Final Thoughts and Rating:

I am just going to come out and say it. Graham Travis should probably retire from directing future porn movies because I truly believe he cannot top this. I know that many people don’t care about stories in porn but I definitely do and this is the kind of movie people can expect when a filmmaker wants to make something that is truly amazing to watch. Just like last year’s Portrait of a Call Girl, I think this movie could easily pass as a mainstream movie with a few cuts in order to take out the hardcore aspects of the sex scenes. Anyone that is a fan of pornography really needs to see this and to no one one’s surprise I am giving this a 5 out of 5.

In case you haven’t read the featured story on this site yet, we are sponsoring a contest where the winner receives a 15 minute phone call with Lily Carter or Lily LaBeau and a signed copy of this movie. You can read about it here or you can go to our sister site, DecadentStories.com, and read about it under the contest tab.